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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Griffins Mills (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Griffins Mills. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Griffins Mills ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

  • A typical abbreviation for Griffins Mills: Griffins Mls. (or less commonly used: Griffins Mlls.)
  • While the name of this community is Griffins Mills, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Griffins Mills may originally have been Griffin's Mills.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Griffins Mills might be written as Griffin Mills.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Griffins Mills is located in Erie County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Erie County: Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Niagara & Wyoming.

Below are the counties that are near Griffins Mills. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Griffins Mills:

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Griffins Mills, see our County-by-County Page for Griffins Mills.

Cemeteries Near Griffins Mills ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Griffins Mills.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Griffins Mills covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Griffins Mills, with the one closest to Griffins Mills listed first.

  • Griffins Mills Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Neischell Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Neischell Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Neischell Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Partridge Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Partridge Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Partridge Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holmes Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holmes Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holmes Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Maple Wood Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Maple Wood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Maple Wood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Humphrey Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Humphrey Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Humphrey Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Goodleberg Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Goodleberg Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Goodleberg Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillcrest Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Cobble Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Cobble Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Cobble Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (321 more) ...
    • St. Paul Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Paul Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Paul Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Angle Road Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Angle Road Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Angle Road Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Holland Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holland Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Griffins Mills had a population of 212 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Griffins Mills, with the one closest to Griffins Mills listed first.

  • Jewettville
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • West Falls
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • East Aurora
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Aurora
    • East Aurora is located in Erie County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,165 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for East Aurora <3>
  • Ellicott
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellicott have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellicott
    • Ellicott is located in Erie County
  • South Wales
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Wales have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Wales
    • South Wales is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for South Wales <3>
  • Colden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colden
    • Colden is located in Erie County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Colden <3>
  • Webster Corners
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • North Boston
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Patchin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • East Elma
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Elma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Elma
    • East Elma is located in Erie County
  • Jamison Road
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jamison Road have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamison Road
    • Jamison Road is located in Erie County
  • Spring Brook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Griffins Mills. See our List of 1890's Communities around Griffins Mills.

Newspapers Published in Griffins Mills ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 284 newspapers that have been published in the area around Griffins Mills.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Griffins Mills, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<7>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Griffins Mills.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Griffins Mills:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Griffins Mills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Erie County: www.erie.gov/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<5>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Griffins Mills, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Griffins Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Griffins Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7242, Longitude: -78.6667       In this case, the coordinates for Griffins Mills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025